Publisher's note: This article was solicited
by me from the author and is based almost entirely on his
research into and interest in the fortifications around
Petersburg, an interest which began with his efforts to
edit the diary of a soldier in the 50th New York
Engineers, one of the principal engineering units in the
Army of the Potomac. Much of what follows can be found in
the Official Records, but not in compiled form.
Ultimately I hope to add a good map detailing the several
phases of construction, as well as some diagrams of the
individual forts.

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to trace the
construction of the Federal forts as the Petersburg
Campaign progressed. Sources on the campaign are few, but
information on the forts is even harder to find. The
trenches and forts at Petersburg are thought of as a
prelude to the future --- the precursor to the static
trench warfare of World War One. Ironically, however, the
earthworks that were such an integral part of the
campaign are barely covered in most histories. General
maps of the works are plentiful, but too often show the
entire completed line, not what the lines looked like at
any particular time during the campaign. It is this lack
of information that this article addresses. Included is a
comprehensive list of all Union forts that faced
Petersburg. It will not include the forts facing
Richmond, the Bermuda Hundred lines or defending City
Point, nor will it include information on the large
number of batteries that were within the lines but not
graced with a name.

The basis for this article is the "narrative
collated from reports of Col. N. Michler", from the
Official Records, Series III, Vol. 5, pages 173-182.
Michlers narrative of fort building seems to fit
into four distinct phases. It is those phases that formed
the basis for this article. Usually, dates for the end of
a "phase" correspond with the date the last
fort on that line was completed.

My hope is that the reader will come to a greater
understanding of the progression of the Federal lines as
the campaign wore on, and how the building of these
fortifications influenced the course of the campaign.

Phase One: June 19 to August 20,
1864

General Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia
was finally brought to bay in the trenches of Petersburg.
But during the initial Petersburg
assaults (June 15-18, 1864), the Army of the Potomac
(Army of the Potomac), commanded by Maj. Gen. George G.
Meade, could not effect a breakthrough. Immediately,
Northern soldiers began to entrench (as they had done for
the previous six weeks in the same circumstances). It was
on this line where the Federals would be fixed until
almost the end of the campaign. Realizing the futility of
further direct assault, at 10 a.m. on June 19, 1864,
Lieut. General Ulysses S. Grant wired Maj. Gen. Henry
Halleck to "Please order Colonel Abbot's siege train
forward." That simple command was to bring on nine
months of some of the most sustained fighting and
extensive building of fortifications yet seen in the War
Between the States. It was also on the 19th of
June that the 50th New York Volunteer
Engineers parked their pontoons and began to focus on
preparing materials for the siege. They put together
gabions and fascines, both important materials in
supporting the interior structures of forts. They also
began clearing roads, building bridges, and making
"covered ways", large ditches that could be
used to move men and equipment with a small risk of
becoming a casualty. However, Grant had not yet given up
on movement to accomplish his aims. He ordered a movement
by the Second and VI Corps to the left, hoping to cut the
Weldon as well as the Southside Railroad and perhaps even
reach the Appomattox River on the west side of
Petersburg. The result was the Battle
of Jerusalem Plank Road (June 21-23, 1864), in which
they were repulsed. At this point, the right flank of the
Army of the Potomac touched the Appomattox River, while
its left rested at the Jerusalem Plank Road. It then was
extended generally to the south along the road, and the
soldiers entrenched the line. Along the entire line,
battery emplacements were built, covered ways and
trenches constructed and strong points made. Naturally,
the Army of Northern Virginia was doing the same, and at
some points the lines were very close. At the closest
point, with about 133 yards between the lines, there
happened to be a regiment of infantry (48th
Pennsylvania, commanded by Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants) from
the IX Corps who were miners prior to the war. With the
permission of Maj. General Ambrose Burnside, commander of
the IX Corps and the acquiescence of Meade, the regiment
began digging a gallery under Confederate lines on June
25th. Besides the mine, there still had to be
an overall strategy to the Federal effort. On July 3rd,
General Meade wrote to Brig Gen. Henry J. Hunt, Chief of
Artillery and Major James C. Duane, Chief Engineer,
asking "whether any offensive operations from the
lines now held by this army are practicable". Their
reply, on July 6th, stated that since the
Rebel works were strong, they would render "an
assault impracticable; regular approaches must,
therefore, be resorted to". On July 9th,
orders went out to the effect, that "The operations
of this army against the intrenched position of the enemy
defending Petersburg will be by regular approaches on the
fronts opposed to General Burnside's and General Warren's
corps." Additionally, it was directed that the works
would be planned by Major Duane, and any works relating
to the artillery would be prepared jointly with Brig.
Gen. Hunt. That same day, at midnight, the VI Corps was
pulled out of the lines and sent to Washington to deal
with the advance of the Army of Northern Virginias
Second Corps, under the command of Lt. Gen. Jubal Early.
On the 10th of July, Major Michler was ordered
to trace a line of defense starting at the left of the
existing Federal line at Fort Prescott (being built
then), extending eastward to the Blackwater Swamp. It
appears from the written record and from maps in the O.R.
Atlas, that Fort Davis and Fort Prescott
were the first Federal forts built as such from the
ground up. Fort Bross followed soon after,
anchoring the far left flank on the rear line, near the
Blackwater Swamp. This rear (or return) line was
considered defensible probably by about mid-July.

Meanwhile, in preparation for the IX Corps assault,
work continued on the front line. Brig. Gen. Hunt
directed the building of artillery emplacements, with
good lines of fire to Confederate artillery positions.
Details of men from the V and IX Corps, supervised by
engineer officers, built up the entrenchments, while the
miners continued to dig until they completed their mine
on July 23, 1864.With the mine
full of black powder and ready to be touched off, July 30
was set as the date for the assault. For further details
on this action, and the one concurrent with it, see First Deep Bottom and the Crater (July
26-30, 1864). The very next day, following the
disaster of the Crater, Federal strategy changed
somewhat. Regular approaches were abandoned and orders
went forth that "Corps commanders will see that the
intrenchments are strengthened wherever it is necessary
to enable the number of men holding them to be reduced to
the lowest number". In other words, instead of
finding a way of getting close and storming the enemy
line, the strategy evolved into making the defensive line
so strong that it could be held by a minimum number of
men, thus allowing large portions of the Army of the
Potomac to be mobile and attack Lees flanks. Thus,
strong points and redoubts on the original line began to
take shape as enclosed forts. From right to left,
construction began on Forts McGilvery, Stedman,
Haskell, Morton, Meikel, Rice and Sedgwick. In
mid to late August, it was felt that the defensive line
was strong enough to permit another offensive.

Phase Two (a): August 20 to
September 7, 1864

On August 14, II Corps moved north of the James once
again in an attempt to draw men away from the Petersburg
front. The V Corps quietly pulled out of their lines,
while the IX Corps stretched out to cover the entire
front line. The V Corps moved westward towards Globe
Tavern on the Weldon Railroad to cut Lees supply
line, with the IX attempting to maintain contact with its
right flank. The several engagements stemming from these
movements would collectively become known as Second Deep Bottom, Globe Tavern, and
Reams Station (August 13-25, 1864). The capture of
the railroad on August 18-19 was followed by orders on
the 26th to extend the fortified lines to
encompass this newly won territory. As before, the
soldiers dug in and the line was now extended westward
from Fort Davis, near the Jerusalem Plank Road, to an
area south of Globe Tavern, thereby "refusing"
the flank. From right to left, the forts that were
constructed were Forts Alexander Hays, Howard,
Wadsworth (where the line turned south) and Dushane,
which became the new anchor to the flank. These works and
intervening entrenchments were made defensible by
September 7, 1864.

Phase Two (b): September 8 to
October/November, 1864

Michlers report states (on page 174) that
"During the first few days of September
he traced a line from the bastion works (Fort
Dushane) on the Weldon railroad to the rear of the camps
of the armies operating against Petersburg, its left
resting near Fort Bross". This phase of fort
building logically followed the initial part of this
phase. As stated above, the new defensive line began at
Fort Dushane and generally ran east, with the facing of
the forts towards the south, the obvious purpose being to
protect the Army of the Potomac from attack from the
rear. Starting with Dushane and running east, the
following forts began construction: Forts Davison,
McMahon, Stevenson, Blaisdell and Kelly.
Unlike previous phases, the main work of fort building
seemed to be taken over by the 50th N.Y.V.E.
The likely reason is that there was little chance of
enemy activity in this quarter. Engineer troops were too
valuable to be exposed to enemy fire unnecessarily. When
they were placed on the front lines to work, the work was
usually performed at night. Even this did not eliminate
casualties. In their company Record of Events summary,
Company M reported, "On the night of the 24th
[September, 1864] Lt. Waldo and 25 men were engaged in
building abattis in front of Fort Sedgewick. On account
of the Picket firing screens of timber were put up to
protect the men, but in spite of this precaution Private
Peter L. Houck, Jr. was struck by a minnie ball and
mortally wounded". The final finishing touches on
this line were completed in late October/November of
1864, connecting with the Phase One entrenchments just
west of Fort Bross. Now, the Federal line was 25 miles in
length, from the Appomattox River on the right, to the
left firmly anchored on the Blackwater Swamp.

Phase Three: September 29 to
November 6, 1864

In late September, Grant again decided to attack both
flanks of the Army of Northern Virginia at once, in an
attempt to outflank Lee, or at least stretch the
Confederate line a little further. The Army of the James
attacked toward Richmond, forcing Lee to shift troops to
reinforce that sector. In the meantime, V and IX Corps
marched westward toward the Peebles Farm area, where the
unfinished Confederate defensive line was thinly held.
These actions, known as Fort
Harrison, Peebles Farm, and Darbytown Road (Sept. 30-Oct.
7, 1864), resulted in taking more ground from Rebel
forces. And although the pontoon trains of the engineers
were not put to use (since there was no decisive
breakthrough), several companies of the 50th
N.Y.V.E. were sent forward immediately to begin
fortifying the new line. In just a few days, several of
the new forts were already in a defensible condition.
This latest defensive line connected with Fort Wadsworth
on its right. Moving to the left, circling up towards
Rebel lines, and then back around to the rear, this new
defensive line came to be known as "The
Fishhook". Going in the same counter-clockwise
direction, the earthworks under construction were Forts
Keene, Urmston, Conahey, Fisher, Welch, Gregg, Sampson,
Cummings, Emery, Siebert and Clarke. Fort
Clarke nearly connected back with Fort Dushane on the
Weldon R.R., thus enclosing the left flank of the Union
line. In the middle of the "hook" was Fort
Wheaton, previously Confederate Fort Archer, that the
engineers "reversed". It was appropriate that
all except one of these forts was named after officers
who lost their lives during the attack in the
Peebles Farm offensive. Once the area was secure,
the 50th Engineers moved into the area,
establishing their camp and subsequent winter quarters to
the rear of Fort Urmston. But it wasnt time for the
engineers to go into hibernation just yet. Concerned for
the security of their right flank, several companies of
the 50th were ordered to construct two forts
on the ridge immediately behind the original defensive
lines on the far right. Consequently, Fort Avery
and the innocuous-sounding Fort Friend were
completed. An interesting fact about these two forts is
that they were the only forts in the Petersburg area
named for geographical locations, after the houses near
where they were constructed. This was to be the last new
fort building of 1864, since the offensive of late
October, First Hatcher's Run (Oct.
27, 1864), failed to win any more new ground to build
upon. Even so, with the Federal line now 32 miles in
length, including 36 forts and 50 batteries, Confederate
lines were stretched almost to the maximum.

Phase Four: January-February, 1865

With the new year, came new considerations by the Army
of the Potomac high command for the security of its
defensive lines. Fort Fisher, the closest Federal
fort to Confederate lines in the "Fishhook",
and thus the most exposed, was a relatively small,
seven-gun fort. Therefore, orders were cut to enlarge and
strengthen it. The 50th N.Y.V.E. went to work,
and before long, the "new" Fort Fisher,
boasting nineteen gun positions was put into a defensible
condition, although not completely finished before
Petersburg was captured. In late January, to strengthen a
weak point in the lines, an existing battery between
Forts Keene and Urmston was strengthened and added to the
list of forts, this one named Fort Tracy. This
would be the final fort built during the war in the
Petersburg area. About that time, Grant ordered another
sweep to the left, resulting in the battle of Second Hatcher's Run (Feb. 5-7, 1865).
Enough ground was gained that enabled a defensive line to
be dug from the environs of Fort Sampson on the southwest
edge of the "Fishhook" four miles southwest to
the Vaughan Road where it crossed Hatchers Run.
This nicely secured the flank from a Confederate attack
and correspondingly provided a staging area for the Army
of the Potomac. The quality of the Federal military
engineering is made evident by the failure of Lee's
desperate attempt to break the Union lines at Fort Stedman (March 26, 1865).
With the advent of spring, Grant and Meade pushed a
strong force towards the left, in a final effort to
extenuate Lees lines. The result was the Five Forks Campaign (March 29-April 1,
1865), the offensive which led up to the Final Assaults (April 2, 1865). At
last, Grant and Meade achieved the breakthrough they had
so long sought. Meanwhile, Lees prediction of his
armys retreat as being a "matter of time"
became fulfilled.

The Final March

The last few days of the Petersburg siege were spent
by most of the 50th N.Y.V.E. in the area of
the Old Stage Road & Vaughan Roads,
"corduroying" them for the passage of the
supply trains trying to keep up with their respective
corps. At 5 p.m. on April 2, they received orders to
march northwards to General Headquarters on the Boydton
Plank Road, near Petersburg, which they did. Ironically,
their most direct route lay right through the area they
had worked so hard to build and maintain. Lt. Col. Ira
Spauldings report simply mentions their route as
being "via Fort Fisher". How many men, upon
marching past that fort realized it would be the last
time they would see it? After nine months of arduous work
in constructing some of the most elaborate fortifications
of the war, in a single day they left it all behind in
pursuit of Lee.